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KARIM-JEAN ARMACHE

Principal Investigator

Karim-Jean Armache joined the Skirball Institute in March 2013. He conducted his graduate work with Patrick Cramer at the Gene Center of the University of Munich (LMU), Germany. His PhD work focused on structural characterization of 12-subunit RNA Polymerase II, the central enzyme responsible for transcription of protein coding genes. He then joined Bob Kingston’s laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston to study how transcription is regulated by its DNA template, chromatin. His work focuses specifically on the molecular understanding of chromatin structure and epigenetics.

STEPHEN

ABINI-AGBOMSON

Graduate Student

I joined the Armache lab at the Skirball Institute in 2018. Prior to joining the lab, I studied the extraordinary resistance of Bacillus bacterial spores to all manners of harsh treatment at University of Connecticut Health Center. Using NMR spectroscopy, we investigated the presence of metabolites that could evoke germination of the bacterial spore. My current research in the Armache lab involves the study of proteins involved in gene expression and silencing in the context of chromatin environments/states.

PABLO DE IOANNES

Postdoctoral Fellow

I did my Ph.D. thesis in the Aggarwal’s laboratory at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. During graduate research, I worked on the structural and functional characterization of proteins that work at three different levels of the anti-pathogenic signaling pathways in innate and adaptive immunity including RIG-I, IRFs proteins and DNA Ligase IV. My current interest at Dr. Armache’s Lab lies in the understanding the structural mechanisms by how chromatin-binding proteins mediate chromatin compaction, and regulate gene silencing.

VICTORIA GODÍNEZ-LÓPEZ

Graduate Student

I received my MSc at the Autonomous National University of México (UNAM) in biochemistry. At UNAM, I investigated the protein evolution through structural conservation of an ancient class II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. In 2021 I joined the Armache Lab to investigate how chromatin remodeling complexes regulate heterochromatin formation.

RACHEL LEE

Lab Manager

I joined the Armache Lab in September 2019. I received a B.S. in Science (Biological Sciences and Health Professions option) as well as a minor certification in Biomedical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 2019. I am interested in stem cell research and its potential application to diseases.

JOE SUDAR

Graduate Student

I joined the Armache Lab in 2023. My previous work in the Sotomayor Lab at Ohio State University utilized structural biology and molecular dynamics simulations to better understand the mechanisms that underlie inner ear mechanotransduction. At NYU I worked in the Bhabha/Ekiert Lab using biochemical and structural techniques to learn how microsporidian parasites carry out infection via their unique harpoon-like organelle named the polar tube. In the Armache Lab, I aim to use structural techniques to understand how epigenetic modifications are maintained during cell replication.

JOHN THOMAS

Graduate Student

My scientific journey started as an undergraduate at Penn State University where I used biochemical approaches to investigate promoter proximal pausing. I joined the Armache Lab in 2021 and since then I investigate proteins that alter gene expression through interacting with chromatin. Outside of the lab I enjoy biking, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, and fishing!

MARCO IGOR

VALENCIA-SÁNCHEZ

Postdoctoral Fellow

I received my Ph.D. at the Autonomous National University of México (UNAM) in 2016. During my PhD I initiated structural studies that led us to propose novel evolutionary pathways of the two types of GlyRS´s and a new subclassification of the ancient class II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. My current interests in the Armache lab involve the structural characterization of epigenetic interactions using X-ray crystallography and single-particle cryo-EM.